Online doctors using loophole to prescribe ‘unsafe’ drugs

A WARNING has been issued over online GPS as a struck-off doctor was discovered using a loophole to prescribe “unsafe” drugs.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), England’s healthcare regulator, called for greater powers to protect patients after an investigation by BBC’S Panorama found that an online company set up by Julian Eden prescribed “dangerous” drugs to patients.

Panorama found that several websites, including Eden’s company, Eurorx, were avoiding regulation by contracting doctors from companies based in Romania. The CQC can only inspect websites if the doctors prescribing for them are contracted by companies in England.

Professor Steve Field, the chief inspector of general practice for the CQC, said websites not regulated by the commission “can be very, very dangerous.”

He added: “As a GP, it makes me very angry that patients are put at risk and, as a regulator, it makes me even more certain that we need to try to get the legislation changed so people can’t just bypass our regulatory activities.”

In 2009, the General Medical Council banned Eden from prescribing after two of his patients became addicted to drugs he had prescribed through his Uk-based online business, E-med.

As part of the Panorama investigation, Eleanor, who was treated for anorexia when she was a teenager, was able to order three months’ worth of prescription slimming pills from a company based in Romania.

She said: “If I’d still been in the depths of my illness it would have been so dangerous for me.”

Panorama: Online Doctors Uncovered will be broadcast on BBC One at 8.30pm tonight.